


what are we, in this boundless and glowing world?

by terrifier



Series: Klaus Whump [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Ben's POV, Delusions, Gen, Ghosts, Not Beta Read, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21725488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrifier/pseuds/terrifier
Summary: Reginald always said time travel could mess with the mind. Remember the squirrel and the acorn.The Hargreeves siblings just didn't think it could affect any of them in such a way. That it could grasp reality in its scrawny fingers and twist until it snapped. Just like that.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Klaus Whump [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875406
Comments: 5
Kudos: 95





	what are we, in this boundless and glowing world?

Ben was sad to say that it hadn't started small. His brother's delusion, that is. It had been almost immediate as soon as their feet touched solid ground in the past. There wasn't even a moment to take in the fact that he was alive again or that he and the others were thirteen. Only terrified sobs and wails from his left. Sobs that pierced through his beating heart like an arrow and wails that enveloped his mind and wouldn't stop playing over and over like a broken, scratched record.

Neither he nor his siblings had known what to do - what was happening, either, just that _something_ was happenening and they were helpless.

Klaus had rambled about ghosts, had held his hands in front of him with pure, unmistakable horror in his watery green eyes, and screamed. Birds had escaped from the branches they'd been perched on and had flown away into the sky. Hargreeves had come storming out into the courtyard, along with Pogo and Grace, and had demanded to know what was going on.

No one had an answer.

In the end, Pogo and Grace had, had to carry a struggling, crying Klaus inside the mansion before he could claw at his own face anymore. Ben had followed them, not wanting to lose sight of the brother he'd been watching over for over a decade. Hargreeves didn't stop him. 

Mom and Pogo had taken him to the infirmary where they placed him down on the bed. He didn't stop screaming. 

Ben had never seen him so worked up about the ghosts, yet something in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like the Horror had tried to convince him that this wasn't his usual mausoleum-induced nightmare. This was different.

Unable to make a diagnosis with Klaus' moving around and clawing and sobbing, mom had resorted to sedating him.

The drug had worked quickly and in no more than five minutes, Klaus was unconscious.

Mom had gotten to work checking him over and looking for any signs of sickness or injuries.

Ten minutes later and even she looked confused. 

There were no signs if physical ailments. 

"Do you think, perhaps, it could be a sickness of the mind?" Pogo had suggested hesitantly. "After all, Master Klaus has always had such a fragile mind."

"I will have to check when he's awake," Grace had responded as she removed her latex gloves.

Klaus had dragged himself from unconsciousness a lot earlier than expected, rousing only six hours later despite the dose given to him.

Ben and the others were the only ones around, Grace and Pogo having left five hours prior to inform Reginald of what they'd learned (nothing). They hadn't returned, which is when the others had appeared.

Almost immediately, as soon as his eyes had opened, Klaus had fallen into a panicked state, the heart monitor going crazy with his growing terror. 

Then the tears had made their guest appearance as Klaus had taken note of his hands and body. There was nothing wrong with him that Ben and the others could see, yet Klaus looked disgusted and disturbed. He cried.

"What's wrong with him?" Ben had demanded helplessly, wanting to take Klaus' hand in his own and comfort him, yet knowing it would probably do more harm than good.

Klaus babbled incessantly, unintelligibly, about ghosts and the apocalypse, and other things that made no sense to Ben.

Five sighed. 

"The old man did always say that time travel could mess with the mind." 

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, klaus thinks he's become the kind of ghost he despises (like the ones in the mausoleum) and is not taking it very well.
> 
> Thank you for reading, i know this isn't very good. I had hoped to make it a longer fic with more words and chapters, but then remembered i already have two other stories to finish so it's now a lil ficlet.


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